This blog provides delicious,traditional, vegetarian, South Indian Recipes from my mother Chitra Amma's kitchen. There are few 'world recipes' as well!
Thanks to Shravan, Pranav, Akash, Tara, Guggs, Shankari, Adu and Appa Ramachandran for the photos!

We are overwhelmed by the flood of information provided by the internet regarding the health benefits of the bitter berry called Sundaikkai. My grandmother packed the 'information deluge' in one simple sentence when she uttered, 'Sundaikkai is good for health'! That was that! No questions were asked when the berry was cooked and served as kozhambus or porials! We dutifully gobbled up the 'health food' with slight reluctance though! Grandmother used certain tricks to tone down the bitterness of the berries while cooking, which gave no chance for any complaints from any quarter! You will have to just cultivate the taste and savour it with all the health benefits in mind.Then you are sure to enjoy it.

Here is a simple recipe to prepare Pachai Sundaikkai Porial. I am also sharing the trick taught by grandmother to make the Porial delicious and less bitter.

INGREDIENTS

Fresh Sunndaikkai / Turkey Berry - 2 cups

Tamarind - 1 marble size ball

Turmeric powder - 1 pinch

Powdered jaggery - 2 tbsps

Asafoetida - 1 pinch

Salt - 1 tsp

Sesame oil - 2 tsps

Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp

Split black gram dal/ Urad dal - 1 tsp

Red chillies (broken) - 2

Curry leaves - a few

DRY ROAST AND POWDER :

Split pigeon peas/Tur dal - 4 tbsp

Pepper corns - 6

Asafoetida - 1 pinch

Red chilly - 1

Salt - 1 pinch

METHOD

1. Remove the fresh pea size Sundaikkais from stalk and wash them thoroughly.

2. Cover the Sundaikkais with water.

3. Add turmeric powder, asafoetida and tamarind which will disintegrate while cooking.

4. Cook till the Sundaikkais are almost done.

5. Add salt and cook till the water evaporates.

6. Drain if there is excess water.

7. Heat oil in a kadai and splutter the mustard seeds.

8. Add the Blackgram dal and roast till it becomes golden in colour.

9. Add broken red chillies and roast till they become crisp.

10. Saute the curry leaves with the seasoning and add the cooked Sundaikkais.

10. Stir in the roasted and powdered ingredients and blend well.(Instead you may use two tablespoons of Paruppu Podi or Chutney Podi).

11. Switch off flame when the Sundaikkai Porial emanates a pleasant aroma.

Enjoy the Pachai Sundaikkai Porial mixed with steaming hot rice topped with a spoon of ghee. You may also relish it as a side dish with your meal.

NOTE Grandmother's trick:

Cooking Sundaikkais with tamarind juice and jaggery tones down its bitterness considerably.The addition of the spicy Paruppu podi used to camouflage the left over bitterness also enhances the aroma and taste of the Porial.

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Hello

Welcome to Chitra Amma's Kitchen.

I am Dibs. I am a born Foodie. I love to cook; love to eat; love to feed folks who appreciate good food. Blogging provides me a great way of documenting my mother, Chitra’s recipes, as a ready reference irrespective which time zone I live in. Amma honestly makes the best food I've ever had, and somehow, the anecdotes she tells us, make the dishes taste all the better.Most posts here are written by my mother Chitra. It’s her recipes, along with related reminiscences of people, places and anecdotes. She writes, I post!What started for a lark, has now become a serious hobby, drawing in participation from the whole family. My father, S.R. Ramachandran has started clicking away every dish made at home! Aunts, cousins, siblings, contribute to photos, and ask for recipes.We try to illustrate implements such as utensils, grinding stones and so on from the ‘pre-electric-mixer’ days wherever possible. We hope this will make an interesting read for future generations, on how food was cooked in earlier times!The site is still in its infancy, and slowly evolving, as our skills improve! We invite your comments, ideas, and questions, and will attempt answering them.

Thank you for your visit, and we hope you enjoy your stay at Chitra Amma’s Kitchen.